Wastes Of An Old World
by LeeroyWinginsAndDitzyDerp
Summary: The Zone Of Alienation, where oneself can find riches, or death. S.T.A.L.K.E.R's come here, to escape justice, get a few bits, or both. Dangers await in this area, factions, mutants, even anomalies. You can never be sure, if the day would be your last.
1. The Zone's Reality

A hooded figure sped across the blanket of darkness, flanks rising and falling in desperation as it tried to escape from its captors. Several yards behind it, a flash of light and a large crack echoed through the wasteland. A small metallic object flew past the figure's hood, entering a small tree just to the left of it. Another metallic fragment hit the figure, it tripped to the ground with a squelching sound, a crimson stream of blood and bone hitting the muddy soil beside it.

"We caught you Magpie, you little fucker!" A hot lance of pain soared across Magpie's foreleg, as he let out a sound of agony. His assailants caught up with him, the one in the center of the group flicked his hoof out, a large rifle swinging out from a folding attachment located right up to the middle of his foreleg. The others replicated his movement, a click heard from each of their weapons in unison. Magpie looked up, eyes wide with fear, "N-no! I'll do anything!" The center one trotted slowly to the pleading S.T.A.L.K.E.R, replying with a barrel of the rifle pressed against Magpie's forehead. Suddenly, the telltale crack and report ringing in their ears, a massive bloody hole in the center of Magpie's face. It said all of the things of what could have been spoken, with a pull of the trigger.

"And that, my friends, was the end of Magpie, the biggest dick in the the zone!" The barman heartily laughed, snorting. A few rookies listening, sniggered at the sound. A lone mare trotted up, clad in a metal suit, hydraulics squeaking as she neared the group. In an upbeat, optimistic voice, she said, "What a wonderful tale! I got one too!" She raised her hoof up in the air, waving it at the group. A stallion put his hoof to his forehead, shaking his head in dismay. "Oh dear Celestia, she doing it again!" He mocked the mare's voice, yelling out, "And here is the tale of the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R!" The mare put her hoof down slowly, voicing her thoughts out loud. "Hey, how'd you know what I was going to say?" She then cleared her throat loudly, "It all started when the smartest pony ever, Ditzy Doo, got lost on her mail route-" She was then interrupted by a stallion, whom was cleaning his rifle, "50 miles away!" The mare looked at him, and continued on. "And flew to some Royal Guards, who were guarding the zone." As she finished the sentence, she said the last two words in a low, ominous voice. "She asked the guards if they could spare any muffins. They stared at her, frowning, she frowned back! This did not phase them very well, so she suddenly flew past them into the zone." She also finished the sentence the same way as the last. "After flying an hour, she landed for a muffin break! She looked around, and found no muffins waiting for her, but one small object attracted her attention. It was a glowing, golden muffin! So she ate it." The next sentence was said dramatic, and even more cheerfully. "The end. Just kidding!" The mare laughed happily, chowing down on a muffin in front of her. She looked back up, crumbs stuck to her face, then started to speak, spouting crumbs at the

stallion's and older colts. "So she woke up in a forest! That had a strange two-legged animal, crouched on the ground! She was very brave, and kicked it in the head. It fell over, dropping a small, metal and wood object, about the size of two squirrels. She grabbed it in her mouth, suddenly feeling a tugging sensation on her tail. She woke up again, except back in the zone! And that was the first gun!" One stallion wiped the sweat off his brow, sighing. The colts oohed and ahhed at the story. The mare smiled, looking quite pleased with herself. She slowly put her hoof to her mask, and pulled it off suddenly, revealing her face. In the process of doing this, she shouted at the barman for more muffins, who had bit down on a basket of freshly baked muffins, hauling it up to the counter. The mare shouted, looks of shock appearing on everyone's faces except a select few older S.T.A.L.K.E.R.S. "And that, bitch, was me!" She grinned ever so happily, walking over to the counter, shoving her face into the basket, not even caring to grab a muffin out of it. Ditzy finished them in ten seconds flat, ran up the hallway. She disappeared into a sideroom, where she promptly fell asleep on a vacant bunk. One of the 'rookies' confusedly asked, "How come' she gets food for free?" The barman replied, washing the crumbs from the counter, "She gets us-" He stopped, the sound of Ditzy's head hitting a wall, "Business."


	2. Meet The Locals

The group trotted along the concrete, the weapons folded to their forelegs. They were dressed in jackets, with a snow camouflage pattern draped over the clothing. To protect from

the zone itself, they wore a gas mask, with dual filters on each side of the mask. The stallion located ahead of them quickly slowed down, lifting his foreleg up to the soldiers behind him. The soldiers stopped, folding out their guns silently. Ahead of them was a concrete wall, lined with barbed wire to protect from mutants or invaders. The stallion pointed at one of the group, then moved his hoof to a part of the wall. A soldier crept silently to the concrete barrier, putting a hoof inside of a coat pocket. The soldier pulled his hoof out, coming with it a small, drab cylinder. He lifted the cylinder to his face, and bit down on a ring, pulling it out of the object. The stallion put the whole cylinder inside of his mouth, and chucked it over the wall. Behind the wall, however, sat a few pegasi, mostly mares, clothed in a jacket of a sky blue and white camouflage pattern, with a thick, olive vest fitted on top of it. The group, as always, kept their hoods up, combined with a ski mask over the face. The cylinder struck one on the head, and exploded. The object released fragments of ball bearings and tiny nails upon the group, slaughtering all but one. The survivor lie on the ground, holes littering the vest and her clothing, with blood leaking out of them. The explosion alerted others, with an armed group of guards rushing to the spot of the sound. The group of assailants rushed into two, hopping over the wall, chanting in monotone voices, "All praise the great and powerful Trixie!". Their chants were met with bullets from the guards, taking the assailants with a hail of lead. Gunfire cracked through the air, the sound ringing the ears of the guards. The gunfire ended shortly after. The scene was gruesome. A crimson substance covered the walls, and the ground. The bodies of the soldiers were either slumped against the wall, or on top of it, their arms hanging freely near the ground. The silence was answered with a gargle, and a sob from the ground. The injured mare was still alive, although bleeding out. One guard folded the gun back quickly, while one rushed to the slowly-dying pegasus. The guard lifted the injured onto one guard's back, and pulled a

radio out of his pocket. He spoke into it, "Monolith attacked again, 5 casualties. Just one injured, severely." He sighed, putting the radio back into his vest's pocket." "Sir!"

The stallion spoke, carrying the injured mare on his back, "Permission to bring this injured to the medical?" The other stallion replied, "Permission granted, get to it. I'm not having another death due to my squad." The stallion shouted with a salute, "Yes sir!", then hurriedly trotted into the distance.

A pegasus mare, with the general clothing of most Clear Sky, slammed a hoof onto a table, yelling, "Fucking Trixie and her Monolith!". What was odd, was that the pegasus, instead of wearing a ski mask, was wearing a black cloth around her muzzle. "Every time, I even send out one squad to protect the outer wall, Monolith Trixie and her goons just need to kill them all!" She ran up to her desk, her pale blue fur blending in with the colors of her hood. Her assistant responded quickly, and nervously, "We could just send out more dive bombers! Maybe recon the area with marksman!" The pegasus glared at the stallion assistant, her eyes of a pinkish shade, that could break anyone. "No." She replied quietly, with anger in her voice. "We shell the place, then we-" She paused, then narrowed her eyes. "Send the fliers. Get them to push a Poseidon Anomaly to there. " The assistant widened his eyes, and stuttered, "Y-yes Vintovka. I-Ill get them r-ready." He quickly turned around, and trotted slowly out of the room. Vintovka sighed, and sat into her chair, planting her face down on the desk, resting her head on her arms. "Someday. Just someday. Ugh."

The assistant reached the hangar, where some Clear Sky members were set up. Instead of vests, they wore some sort of an exoskeleton over their wings. The exoskeleton was a complicated system of hydraulics, pulleys, and springs, all for the name of speed and power. This, left them open for bullets striking their chests, as the vest were removed. The fliers had a tighter, more aerodynamic jacket to reduce drag. Their hoods were also sown onto the ski mask, and the ski mask with a rope near the neck to fasten it. Because of the harsh weather and dust in the air, they also wore goggles. As the assistant stepped inside, they immediately got up, and saluted. The assistant commanded, "Vintovka needs a Poseidon Anomaly to the Monolith Base! On the double, lets go!" The Fliers quickly got up, and put on their goggles. An older stallion threw a magazine in the air, catching it, and quickly loads it in his AKS-74u, pulling back the bolt. He locks the carbine onto his chest, folding the stock back. The stallion turned his head to a younger Clear Sky member, and spoke with a hoarse voice. "Hope you know how to steer clear of them winds up there." He turned back to look ahead, chuckling, then coughing. The young Clear Sky pushes the makarov into a sheath on her foreleg, and it clicks, a button popping out of the mechanical device.

Trixie sat upon the throne, with her hooves together in a menacingly way. A Monolith trots up to her, bows down, then speaks, "Great and Powerful Trixie, our scouts have seen a large cloud moving in from the north, its a Poseidon Anomaly. Your wishes?" Trixie narrowed her eyes, and shifted her hooves, looking straight ahead. "The Great and Powerful Trixie commands you to bunker down in defensive positions, and get ready for a fight." The Monolith replies, "I will do as you wish, Great and Powerful Trixie." Alarms singaled the into a Monolith rush, picking weapons up from racks, setting down sandbags, and putting up PKM emplacements. As the cloud moved further, the area around the building started to darken. The fliers worked hard, zipping back and forth, fighting against the winds of the zone. A Monolithian aimed the PKM in the air, and pressed down on the spades with his hooves. The machine gun spewed lead into the air, wizzing past the fliers. As a youn mare tried to dodge the bullets, a round

lodged itself into her chest, a stream of blood exiting the wound. Her wings immediately stopped, and she went straight down onto the Zone's cold, heartless dirt. A mangled body lie still on the ground, blood filling the area around it. After of what seem hours, the cloud was right over the concrete building. The older Stallion Flier bit a grenade's ring, pulling it off his jacket, and spitting out the ring. He held it in his mouth for two seconds, then let go of it, the grenade falling into the Anomaly. The cloud released a bolt of lightning, striking one flier, having the same fate of the young mare. The rest of the Fliers hurriedly sailed out their wings, and folding them back rapidly, boosting them forward. The cloud let out a few more shocks, and started to rain. A slight drizzle went over the monolith, and Trixie chuckled, muttering insults. The ANomaly then suddenly let out gallons and gallons of water at once, flooding the base with water. While everything seemed fine, the water constantly fell, creating a

large body of water moving down the hill, rushing to Clear Sky. Vintovka sat up, and got up from the chair. She looked outside the window, and her jaw dropped. A cascade of water was heading straight towards Clear Sky. Vintovka widened her eyes, and ran to the other side of the room. It was too late. The water hit, the base sharing the same fate as the Monolith. Some were drowning, others running away. Bodies floated to the surface, member after member.

However, the zone was not a monster, it let natural selection do its way, and let others survive. Vintovka woke up on a hill, with other Clear Sky members surrounding the area, their numbers only down to about 120. They established a camp on that hill, holding on to whatever they were left with. The monolith were smart enough to close all the airlocks inside, but they too, suffered major casualties.


End file.
